A usability study for promoting eContent in higher education

eContents used in education can be from a number of sources: from traditional electronic journals (eJournals), and electronic books (eBooks) to more specific formats such as: electronic research reports (eResearch-reports), electronic lecture modules (eLecture-modules), electronic lecture notes (eLecture-notes), and electronic lecture slides (eLecture-slides). This paper discusses a number of issues relevant to publishing of eContent. The first section describes the advantages, as well as the disadvantages of such contents. It also elaborates on how eContent can be promoted through the use of Internet, WWW and SMS. Next, related issues on the usability of eContent on the Web are discussed. Four popular usability design guidelines are studied and critically reviewed. The final part concludes that although designing and publishing eContent is more complex than the printed version, eContent has a huge potential in education

Case studies of personalized learning

Deliverable 4.1, Literature review of personalised learning and the Cloud, started with an evaluation and synthesis of the definitions of personalized learning, followed by an analysis of how this is implemented in a method (e-learning vs. i-learning, m-learning and u-learning), learning approach and the appropriate didactic process, based on adapted didactic theories. From this research a list of criteria was created needed to implement personalised learning onto the learner of the future. This list of criteria is the basis for the analysis of all case studies investigated. – as well to the learning process as the learning place. In total 60 case studies (all 59 case studies mentioned in D6.4 Education on the Cloud 2015 + one extra) were analysed. The case studies were compared with the list of criteria, and a score was calculated. As a result, the best examples could be retained. On average most case studies were good on: taking different learning methods into account, interactivity and accessibility and usability of learning materials for everyone. All had a real formal education content, thus aiming at the core-curriculum, valuing previous knowledge, competences, life and work skills, also informal. Also the availability of an instructor / tutor or other network of peers, experts and teachers to guide and support the learning is common. On the other hand, most case studies lack diagnostics tests as well at the start (diagnostic entry test), during the personalized learning trajectory and at the end (assessment at the end). Also most do not include non-formal and informal learning aspects. And the ownership of personalized learning is not in the hands of the learner. Five of the 60 case studies can as a result be considered as very good examples of real personalized learning

Pengukuran Kinerja Layanan Perguruan Tinggi di Era Informasi: Analisis Konten dan Atribut Mutu Website Perguruan Tinggi

Perguruan Tinggi sudah mengalami tranformasi di era informasi melalui pemanfaatan internet sebagai media informasi dan moda pembelajaran dengan pendekatan baru. Internet telah menjadi salah satu media penting yang dapat membantu peningkatan popularitas perguruan tinggi dan alat diseminasi ilmu pengetahuan ke masyarakat. Popularitas tersebut berhubungan dengan kuantitas dan kualitas konten yang tersedia pada website perguruan tinggi. Ukuran yang digunakan untuk mengukur mutu pembuatan website tersebut meliputi jumlah halaman web, kekayaan fitur layanan, dan muara akhirnya adalah jumlah tautan dan jumlah kunjungan sebagai ukuran popularitas. Berbagai ukuran tersebut juga digunakan oleh pemeringkatan website perguruan tinggi di dunia seperti yang dilakukan oleh Webometrics dan 4icu. Jumlah perguruan tinggi di Indonesia yang masuk pemeringkatan Webometrics Edisi Juli 2011 sebanyak 149, dan peringkat atas di tingkat nasional didominasi oleh Perguruan Tinggi Negeri. Perguruan tinggi di Indonesia juga masih tertinggal di lingkungan ASEAN yang sepuluh besarnya dikuasai oleh Singapura, Malaysia, dan Thailand

The CEDAR Project Approach to Bringing Together Dispersed Digital Content to Create a Resource for Teaching and/or Research

The major focus of the CEDAR project was to increase the usability and impact of East London Theatre Archive’s (ELTA, www.elta-project.org) content. In order to achieve this there was a need to build more content which could be embedded at the University of East London and in its partners’ teaching and learning curriculum. The project added more relevant content from Hackney Empire and Gay Sweatshop Archive and also linked to the Mapping the Moment Archive of Nottingham University thus creating a new web resource, the Online Theatre Histories Archive – OTHA (www.otha.org.uk). This content was enriched through user-added content using Bossa software. The website has gone through rigorous testing and has been improved through constant development. The project has produced four case studies on the usability of the content. There have been challenges, particularly related to collaboration and the perceptions of archives, but the CEDAR project has successfully delivered a tool which enhances the learning opportunities of not just users within higher education but also the wider community

ANATEKS: An eContent learning for 'Technical Analysis'

‘Technical analysis’, a branch of stock market study is a popular and heavily used technique in stock trading. Few knowledge and educational materials have been produced to assist beginners in this industry. The present learning tools, named ANATEKS, a short form for ‘Asas Analisis Teknikal Saham’ was developed as an eContent educational platform catering for the first-time learners in technical analysis. The platform provides introductory information on the subjects in a compact duration via short videos. Using smartphones and computers, the materials are accessible through ANATEKS website linked to youtube. Such medium complements the existing conventional learning via lectures and book reading. It helps to boost learning experience in a convenient, timeless, fun and fast way. The potential target includes the students of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Melaka enrolled in the technical analysis course and the general public who is the first timer in Bursa Malaysia trading. Uniquely, the videos are prepared by beginners in this area, suiting the tagline ‘learning from peers.” Guided by SCANMIC methodology in producing a successful eContent learning method by Hassan & Li [1], overall ANATEKS fulfil majority of the SCANMIC paradigm features making it a useful learning medium for new investors. Future recommendation includes the inclusion of industry experts learning materials in the form of videos and pdf documents, coupled with knowledge sharing interactive features in the website

Effectiveness of the TM Intranet Website

The purpose of this research is to study the effectiveness of the TM online information website in achieving the desired information dissemination in order for the staffs to acquire the necessary knowledge. The aims are to identify the effectiveness of the TM Intranet website and to provide recommendations for the future improvement of the system. In this study, staffs using the TM Intranet environment daily at their work premises were surveyed through online survey to evaluate the intranet system. About 50 staffs were targeted to participate and the respondents were only 42. Results showed that there are three main factors that influence the effectiveness of the TM Intranet website in relation to their daily work. These factors are staffs’ behavior and attitude, technology and system, and interactive applications. The paper discusses these factors in detail with an emphasis on the role of the TM Intranet website in information and knowledge dissemination for the staff in their daily work environment

ICOPER Project - Deliverable 4.3 ISURE: Recommendations for extending effective reuse, embodied in the ICOPER CD&R

The purpose of this document is to capture the ideas and recommendations, within and beyond the ICOPER community, concerning the reuse of learning content, including appropriate methodologies as well as established strategies for remixing and repurposing reusable resources. The overall remit of this work focuses on describing the key issues that are related to extending effective reuse embodied in such materials. The objective of this investigation, is to support the reuse of learning content whilst considering how it could be originally created and then adapted with that ‘reuse’ in mind. In these circumstances a survey on effective reuse best practices can often provide an insight into the main challenges and benefits involved in the process of creating, remixing and repurposing what we are now designating as Reusable Learning Content (RLC). Several key issues are analysed in this report: Recommendations for extending effective reuse, building upon those described in the previous related deliverables 4.1 Content Development Methodologies and 4.2 Quality Control and Web 2.0 technologies. The findings of this current survey, however, provide further recommendations and strategies for using and developing this reusable learning content. In the spirit of ‘reuse’, this work also aims to serve as a foundation for the many different stakeholders and users within, and beyond, the ICOPER community who are interested in reusing learning resources. This report analyses a variety of information. Evidence has been gathered from a qualitative survey that has focused on the technical and pedagogical recommendations suggested by a Special Interest Group (SIG) on the most innovative practices with respect to new media content authors (for content authoring or modification) and course designers (for unit creation). This extended community includes a wider collection of OER specialists. This collected evidence, in the form of video and audio interviews, has also been represented as multimedia assets potentially helpful for learning and useful as learning content in the New Media Space (See section 4 for further details). Section 2 of this report introduces the concept of reusable learning content and reusability. Section 3 discusses an application created by the ICOPER community to enhance the opportunities for developing reusable content. Section 4 of this report provides an overview of the methodology used for the qualitative survey. Section 5 presents a summary of thematic findings. Section 6 highlights a list of recommendations for effective reuse of educational content, which were derived from thematic analysis described in Appendix A. Finally, section 7 summarises the key outcomes of this work

Designing and Developing an Online Services System: A Case of Maybank Students' Residential Hall

When internet services became cheap and available in the world, many organizations use it to enhance its benefits and to communicate with users in anywhere and anytime. Because that most universities used the facilities in online services to increase their abilities in organizing work. Online services are not limited to use in the universities for e-learning only. Although, the students who interact with online services increasingly, a common problem is that students online services need more efficient interaction. In other words, the sites lack usability; this research to design and develop an online services system for Maybank Students’ Residential Hall aid to solve this problem and to support the communication between students and residential hall staff

Desigm and Development Considerations of a Learning Object Repository

A learning objects repository (LOR) is a web-based educational portal that houses, displays, and delivers sharable content objects for educational purposes. Design of such a repository encounters a number of considerations that relate the behavior of the information system to the content objects it manages. This paper examines these design issues in light of standards we have utilized. In particular, the instructional design of our learning objects is based on a concept called progressive scaffolding, which refers to the process of providing differing levels of media guidance. A brief description of related research is included. Furthermore, our objects are compliant with the Advanced Distributed Learning’s Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) to ensure they behave in a uniform and predictable manner. This paper also reviews existing content portals and gives a summary of an evaluation project carried out with a prototype

Pengukuran Kinerja Layanan Perguruan Tinggi di Era Informasi: Analisis Konten dan Atribut Mutu Website Perguruan Tinggi

Perguruan Tinggi sudah mengalami tranformasi di era informasi melalui pemanfaatan internet sebagai media informasi dan moda pembelajaran dengan pendekatan baru. Internet telah menjadi salah satu media penting yang dapat membantu peningkatan popularitas perguruan tinggi dan alat diseminasi ilmu pengetahuan ke masyarakat. Popularitas tersebut berhubungan dengan kuantitas dan kualitas konten yang tersedia pada website perguruan tinggi. Ukuran yang digunakan untuk mengukur mutu pembuatan website tersebut meliputi jumlah halaman web, kekayaan fitur layanan, dan muara akhirnya adalah jumlah tautan dan jumlah kunjungan sebagai ukuran popularitas. Berbagai ukuran tersebut juga digunakan oleh pemeringkatan website perguruan tinggi di dunia seperti yang dilakukan  oleh Webometrics dan 4icu. Jumlah perguruan tinggi di Indonesia yang masuk pemeringkatan Webometrics Edisi Juli 2011 sebanyak 149, dan peringkat atas di tingkat nasional didominasi oleh Perguruan Tinggi Negeri. Perguruan tinggi di Indonesia juga masih tertinggal di lingkungan ASEAN yang sepuluh besarnya dikuasai oleh Singapura, Malaysia, dan Thailand. Kata kunci: webmetrics, webometric, 4icu, rich files, kualitas we